The use of a glycol ether or glycol ester in a dyeing composition has been disclosed, for example, in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ 1,891,520 Bowley 1,927,145 Whitehead 1,977,345 Moore et al. 2,537,177 Woodruff 2,723,899 Toulmin, Jr. 3,009,760 Lenz et al. 3,607,358 Dangl et al. 3,635,652 Streck 4,047,889 Hermes 4,055,971 Hermes 4,115,054 Hermes ______________________________________
References disclosing the use of glycols or glycerol as media for dyeing compositions include U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ 2,302,760 Goodman, Jr. 2,320,426 Goodman, Jr. 2,882,119 Laucius et al. 3,241,906 Smith et al. 3,901,648 Arbaud 4,245,991 Haddad et al. ______________________________________
Popp et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,077), have proposed a non-aqueous dyestuff composition, containing a water-soluble or water-dispersible dyestuff, a lower dialkyl phthalate, a dispersing agent and tetrachloroethylene or other halogenated hydrocarbon. The dyeing process appears to require either extended immersion in the dyebath or heat treatment after dyeing.
Hermes (U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,105) has proposed using glycols or polyhydric alcohols in a process for treating polyester with an ultraviolet absorber.
Hermes, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,530,214, has disclosed a process for heat setting of textiles, wherein a fabric web of synthetic fibers is treated in a heated liquid bath of a polyhydric alcohol, alkylene carbonate or mixture thereof.
Inclusion of lower phthalates in lubricants or other textile-treating compositions is disclosed by Jaeger (U.S. Pat. No. 2,212,369), Brennan et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 2,882,231) and Iyengar et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,607).
Of these, the Hermes '889, '971 and '054 references appear of most interest with respect to clean, economically feasible waterless dyeing, particularly of textiles.
The use of ethoxylated materials for coloring of objects has been disclosed by Lenz et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,779) and Kressner et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,587).
Compositions containing esterified derivatives of a Diels-Alder adduct of linoleic acid and acrylic acid, intended for use in various textile-treating compositions, have been disclosed by Wilson, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,293,305, and 4,394,126, incorporated herein by reference.
Although a variety of solvent systems have been suggested for dyeing of articles in waterless systems, none presently available provides rapid, failure-free dyeings, which are done without producing obnoxious effluents or otherwise being unacceptable from a commercial viewpoint.
It is object of this invention to provide a composition for waterless immersion coloring of plastic articles, intended for non-texile and general-utility purposes. Such articles include, but are not limited to plastic tubing and pipe, plastic coated wire, ropes, polyester and polyamide chips, metals coated with synthetic resins, flowers made of synthetic resins, synthetic resin films, toys, synthetic resin constructions used in cars and planes, housings for pencils and pens, kitchen utensils and telephones.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method for rapid waterless coloring of non-texile and general-utility articles. Yet another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus suitable for waterless coloring of articles made from plastics.